IronFX, a prominent brand in the forex and contracts for differences (CFDs) industry, has laid off around a third of its workforce in Cyprus, FinanceMagnates.com understands. Sources said the reason behind the move was “efficiency” amid the AI wave.While IronFX holds a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) licence, it stopped offering services to retail CFD traders in the European Union a few years ago. Now, the broker appears to be operating primarily under an offshore licence from the British Virgin Islands.It also holds a licence from the UK Financial Conduct Authority.Despite its global operations, the broker has strong ties with Cyprus, as it was founded on the Mediterranean island in 2010 by Markos Kashiouris and Peter Economides. It received the Cyprus license the same year.Read more: IronFX Founder Quietly Joined Prop Trading Craze with ‘Ultimate’The specific catalyst for the mass layoffs at IronFX’s Limassol office remains unconfirmed by the company, which has been largely unresponsive to inquiries, and no comments were provided by the time of publication. Brokers Reducing Staff, a Trend?The staff cuts at IronFX follow a broader pattern of layoffs across the retail brokerage landscape. Finance Magnates earlier reported that eToro decided to cut 10% of its global workforce, while the operator of the FXCM and Tradu platform moved to cut more than 100 employees in 2025. The CEOs at eToro and FXCM cited AI adoption as a driver for restructuring.Still, it remains to be seen if AI is a strategic narrative for the sector, as by bundling performance-based redundancies and aggressive cost-cutting into a single, forward-looking message, brokers can often frame mass layoffs in a way that resonates more positively with investors.Elsewhere, IG Group has recently finalised the closure of its South African office, a unit that once employed roughly 90 people, completing a withdrawal that began nearly nine months ago. In 2023, IG Group had also moved to reduce its global workforce by 10%, and a few months later, another industry heavyweight, CMC Markets, announced a 17% staff reduction. Nonetheless, the reduction of nearly a third of IronFX's staff in Cyprus represents a far more aggressive pruning of headcount than what is observed elsewhere. This article was written by Arnab Shome, Adonis Adoni at www.financemagnates.com.

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